Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Wolverine takes place after X-Men: The Last Stand and sees Logan travel to Japan to clash between the yakuza and old acquaintances. Mangold handled action so beautifully in Knight & Day but now takes a more sloppy approach since almost every action set piece falls flat due to lazy direction. The story itself isn't half as engaging as it should be and flashes of Famke Janssen's Jean Grey are fruitless at best since everything they're trying to accomplish about the relationship between these characters already came to light in The Last Stand. Still, there are few moments which elevate the film above boredom including a mid-end credit sequence that is by far the most interesting thing in the whole movie (much like it was the case with The Hangover part III).

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Now that Marvel has proved superhero assambles can succeed, DC wanted in on the action and as a first measure rebooted Superman on their way towards a Justice League movie. Some mighty talented names have been working on this from Snyder to Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer (Dark City, Blade). Man Of Steel is a solid blend of drama and epic action with a great supporting role from Russell Crowe. The way of depicting our hero's childhood on Earth with constant backflashes doesn't work as seemlessly as you'd hope but in the end it's a minor problem. I just think linear storytelling might've been better in this case.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

It's been a while since there's been a sequel that's truly done everything in its power to ass rape and destroy the brilliance of the original but by God, the Wolf Pack sure give it a go. The whole movie screams from lack of ideas and most importantly, laughs. Plus they've taken one of the most irritating actors on Planet Earth, Ken Jeong (who makes even Martin Lawrence seem like John Belushi) and his character (Chow) and given him more screen time! At least Lucas tried to make amends and cut Jar Jar from Episode II & III almost entirely.Cooper and Helms seem frustrated throughout but it's understandable if you take into account the fact that they've seen the fucking script. Two scenes with Melissa McCarthy are all that's worth while, plus a funny end credit sequence which begs the question why the fuck I wasn't watching that movie!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Blomkamp's eagerly awaited directorial follow-up to 2009's District 9 comes in the shape of this well executed though perhaps not quite as politically motivated scifi action package. District 9 was a near perfect action film with a very strong and emotional political message at it's core. In Elysium Blomkamp criticizes the unfairness and brutality between social classes but tones it down a bit in favor of action sequences. Though it simplifies the film in comparison, the point still comes across very strong and Elysium is highly entertaining. I might even say that this is almost an equally balanced formula as D9 but simply put together in a different fashion. One of the best aspects in Elysium is Foster's cold baddie which she obviously has tons of fun playing.

The pedal is to the metal but somehow part 6 still seems to take a step backwards from the effortless fun of the previous installment. Fast Five was a flick in which it felt they had nothing to lose after the limp Fast & Furious so they made a fun heist movie. Maybe because that film made so much money, this time they felt they needed something more emotionally relevant. Fuck that. Nobody goes to see these films because of the drama. It's the fast cars and dangerous stunts we're here for. That being said, the action is nudged frustratingly back to the Over-The-Top-position which made number 4 a drag. Impossible scenarios and a mediocre villain (Evans) equals an entertaining but disappointing two hours with a very stoopidly dragged out climax.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Tons of respect to Hunt for taking on a daring role like this. I mean really. On paper, The Sessions may look to some a bit daunting with it's taboo subject matter of sexuality of the handicapped. Based on a true story, Hawkes plays a paralyzed man living in an iron lunge who decides to pursue losing his virginity with the help of a professional sex surrogate played by Hunt. The film ignores the taboos of it's theme by tackling them head-on and by being genuinly inventive, funny and touching to the point you can't believe the film was nominated for only one Oscar (Hunt) and snubbed for that too.Usually you see genuine emotions of this level only in Richard Curtis films. See this film!

During filming, it was reported that the crew were executing as much of the effects practically as possible. That turned out to be true for which I give lots of respect to the filmmakers but sadly that's the extent of true quality of the movie. Sure, there's lots of gore but it's all just dull slaughtering without an ounce of originality. In the original film the evil force tormented the living psychologically in their face in addition to killing which is largely absent from the remake. And could we please already start making movies where there are no dogs just for the simple reason of them being there for the slaughter? It's a cheap and transparent way to try and raise our sympathies. Nice poster though.

Pacific Rim is again one of those summer popcorn fares where nominal character building has been added just to give at least some justification to over two hours of giant robots fighting giant monsters. Pacific Rim is fun and extremely well executed. Then again it's Del Toro so what else could it be? Director regular Ron Perlman gives his usual hilarious supporting role.

The plot synopsis of a dog kidnapping of a mob boss sounds like a delicious starter for a crime comedy from the director of the brilliant In Bruges, but the film is anything but. Seven Psychopaths is just pointless and not least because the cleverness of playing with film clichés becomes dull very fucking soon. Why does every "clever" film nowadays wanna be Scream?

Friday, July 26, 2013

The production of WWZ was plagued with problems and for a time the film was labelled a flop even before it entered post-production, a phenomenon I simply don't understand. The result is a heavily entertaining zombie romp which, though completely lacks gore, is still furious and deserves it's place among great zombie flicks. Especially scenes of the undead fiercely climbing walls in Israel or breaking out mid-flight are executed with such force that you cannot help but notice you were holding your breath for most of the time.

Cloud Atlas requires your full attention or you'll find yourself lost within the first five minutes. It's a complex collection of stories spanding across centuries and deals with immortal themes such as love, life and death. You have to applaude the trio behind the film for taking on a massive task like this even though at times the film seems pointless and thinks it's cleverer than it really is. The latter being a feature sadly identifiable with the Wachowskis. Nobody likes a show off. The fourth statue comes purely for the balls to make the project.

Nowadays when a film's quality is measured by it's box office success (how fucking smart is that?!), Jack the Giant Slayer (a reimagining of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale) received a bad wrap for it's less than impressive performance. This is unfair. Singer once again proves (along with Valkyrie) that even at his "worse" he can still push out a decent action adventure which has good charm and great actors (Stanley Tucci, Bill Nighy, Ian McShane etc.) slumming it.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Now that the LOTR trilogy has become this almost mythic thing, filming of The Hobbit was only a matter of time but perhaps exactly for that reason the end result feels somehow forced and more like a product than a work of passion, which the first trilogy was. An Unexpected Journey is by no means a bad film and Freeman, with his impeccable comedic timing, is a joy as always but crucially some of the inspired magic is still missing.

Many must've had doubts about a new Dredd film which speaks volumes of the reputation Stallone's version from 1995 has, but Dredd is wildly entertaining, fittingly violent and made with genuine inspiration since they clearly were not operating with a huge budget. It's also interesting how much this film bares resemblance storywise to another low budget actioner Serbuan Maut (The Raid: Redemption).

In my humble opinion, the 2009 Star Trek was the best film that year and surprised a lot of people by how strong a movie Abrams had created, since let's be honest, after the modest disappointment that was Mission: Impossible III, it was understandable if no-one was expecting much.

Star Trek as a franchise had been in a state of crisis for a while with the latest TV shows not finding their audiences and the mysterious box office failure of Next Gen's last film Star Trek Nemesis(which I still think is a great film). Then Abrams came along and did what I guess was inevitable: he rebooted the whole fucking thing. Kind of. By creating an alternative timeline he at once managed to respect what had come before while still taking the series in a whole new direction. The gamble paid off and now we've arrived to the sequel for a reboot. Sounds horrible when you say it like that but Into Darkness delivers. This is largely thanks to Cumberbatch's powerhouse performance as "John Harrison". The quotes are in order but the reason will escape anyone who has yet to see the film OR is utterly unfamiliar with the franchise. In any regard, his performance is so strong that comparisons to the brilliance of Ledger's work as The Joker are justified. It also warms my 80's heart to see Weller back in real action with something constructive to do and not just as a who-gives-a-shit supporting character.

Admittedly the romantic storyline between Spock and Uhura is left even more uninteresting than before and there doesn't seem to be as many solid ideas for the beloved crew of the Enterprise. For instance Chekov just pretty much hangs around Engineering for the duration and is given nothing interesting to do. With these excetions Star Trek Into Darkness is a solid addition to the evolving world created by Roddenberry back in the 1960's. Star Trek is alive and well.

With Iron Man 3, the franchise becomes the perfect example on how important a director's touch on material can be. Favreau who directed the first two films is now only on producer duties in addition to once again playing Stark helper, Happy Hogan. Shane Black who also wrote the movie, now sits in the director's chair and the change in tone can not be denied. Favreau directed the first installments with a certain ease and playful touch with a strong understanding of how to perfectly combine quality acting, action and pace. Shane Black, while he does a solid job, is much more all over the place in terms of pace and as a result Iron Man 3 doesn't really move along nearly as smoothly as the previous Stark adventures and at times almost even feels like any other kick ass action flick. The first rule of action movies is to not rely only on the story but the perfect marriage of story AND appropriate presentation. Normally this wouldn't bother but damnit, this is fucking Iron Man. It shouldn't be generic by any terms. EVER.

Luckily this pretty much sums up the films shortcomings. The action of Iron Man 3 is mostly (and especially in the last reel) so massive, epic and gorgeous that it almost eclipses the scale of The Avengers. Downey Jr. continues to win over audiences with his effortless charm and understanding of the material at hand. Kingsley turns in his most joyous performance in years after routine baddie roles in films such as Thunderbirds and Prince Of Persia while Pearce obviously lets equally loose and has endless fun with his treacherous Aldrich Killian.

Shame then about Shane Black's inexperience with pace and panache as the man calling the shots. This does actually come somewhat as a surprise as he's written some of the most joyous action movies of all time like Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight and The Last Boy Scout. Oh, and just as it has been with other Marvel flicks, remember to stick around after the credits.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

It would be incredibly naive to expect anything above total shit from a film based on a soap opera but even this still isn't a valid excuse for a bad film. Nightmare ( -Nightmare at Sea) pretends to be a slasher film that takes place on a cruise liner. The usual boring dark corridors are again in play and I can't tell you how fucking frustrating it is to watch a pseudo horror film in which NONE of the main cast are slaughtered. Especially since the characters are fucking irritating teen airheads who make the Jersey Shore cast look like Mensans. The acting is every bit as insufferable as one might expect from a bunch of soap actors and the film manages to make the short duration of 74 minutes feel like three hours. I didn't pay a dime to see this fucking thing and still feel I got ripped off. If the US is still coming up with new ways to torture inmates at G-Bay, might I suggest showing this movie 24/7. It could however prove to be an insufficient mean to gather information much like torture in general since the subjects would most likely swallow their own tongues during the second screening. At the latest.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Härmä (or Once Upon A Time In The North or Perifery) tells a tale of two very different brothers in the countryside of 1800s Finland.Their father is about to leave the older brother (Leppilampi) without inheritance and meets his end by the hand of said brother. As a result, for two hours the film showcases how this insufferable asshole with his gang of thugs terrorises this small community and on top of that boasts about it in every possible turn. By the end I was so fucking pissed I didn't even give a shit about the actual story and only waited for this piece of shit to get what was coming to him. As it turns out, Härmä is a kind of commercial for pacifism. Shit, even the goddamn lynch mob pusses out! I think George Carlin said it best with "pacifism is a nice idea, but it can get you killed. We're not there yet". Didn't buy the message and wasn't sold by the movie. The film is technically well made for which it deserves some credit.

The feature film debut from animation wizard MacFarlane (Family Guy) comes in the shape of this rauchy and hilarious tale of a man who's best friends with a living stuffed teddy bear. The idea is simple and out there enough to allow room for great R-rated comedy thanks to a witty and even warm script by MacFarlane.

Red Lights is a bit of a let down after Cortés' masterful in-box-thriller Buried but it's not a bad film by any means. Just lazy with some chills. Like Buried, Red Lights saves a twist for it's finale but it's not enough to reward or justify the dragging execution of what has come before.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Oh how I hate a wasted opportunity. Red Eye is a brilliant thriller right up until it kicks in with the third act. The whole movie by that point has been a carefully constructed nerve wrecker with Murphy's psychotic hitman keeping terrified McAdams hostage in her seat up on a plane. Once she finds her inner Sarah Connor and they get on the ground, it all goes to shit as Craven turns the film into a Scream-esque hide and seek. Such a shame and above all, a waste. Especially since Murphy brings his A-game. As he usually does.

What a wonderful, warm film. I was expecting perhaps some elevated ('cause it's Scorsese) family movie, but Hugo is so much more than that. It's a fairytale, which older viewers will find just as charming as the younger ones, about finding your place in the world and the consuming sadness of not reaching your dreams. Sounds corny, I know, but in Hugo all of these components interlock beautifully thanks to a clever screenplay which introduces the storypoints via interesting mystery. One of Scorsese's absolute best and rounded up nicely with a spectacular supporting cast from Richard Griffiths to Christopher Lee.

Poor Drew Goddard. Everywhere they write about this film, everyone always just goes on about Joss Whedon who co-wrote this with Goddard. It's Hostel and Killing Zoe all over again. Oh well. Among all the never-ending horror remakes, reboots and US versions of foreing films, TCITW is a truly welcome, original treat. The less I say about the plot the better, really. Just suffice to say that though this movie has been marketed as horror, it's actually one of the funniest flicks of recent years and fucking entertaining to boot.

WARNING! The trailer gives away MAJOR spoilers of the film! In fact, if you want to see this flick, I'd recommend you try to avoid previews of ANY kind. Trust me. The less you know going in, the better.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Flight is Zemeckis' eagerly awaited return to live action which I'd been looking forward to for well over a decade. The film is not what I expected and though it's a very ambitious and hard look at alcoholism via Denzel's pseudo-heroic pilot Whip Whitaker, Flight is by no means an easy film to sit through. You'll be taken to a ride into the kind of a person's psyche who is or at least can be very unpleasant and off putting. Not a very inviting consept, but Washington makes it work with a very good performance. And when it comes to Zemeckis, he does a solid job but personally I'd have loved to have seen a different, more eased kind of return from the master. Then again, Flight is a good film so in a way I feel I shouldn't complain. But.. oh what the hell, at least we finally get to see the gorgeous Nadine Velazquez naked. And the wait was worth it.

I am not my job or how much money I have in the bank.

Just felt like sharing my views and opinions about these films and related topics with you, but feel free to let me know if there's a particular film of which you'd like me to write about. If I haven't seen it, I'll try to make an effort to find it and review it for you.
Bare in mind that I'm only just getting started. There's not much material yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day either. Right?? :) and also, I'm a Finnish guy so give me a break if my english isn't 100%.